1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to safety devices, and in particular to safety harnesses for use in combination with firemen's coats and similar protective garments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Firemen widely employ a protective garment referred to generally as a "turnout coat", which is a heavy, fire retardant knee length jacket carried by the shoulders of the wearer and fitting about the torso thereof. Most of these jackets are fabricated from stiff, uncomfortable material and therefore include a detachable, soft lining therein.
There have been suggestions in the prior art for combining these jackets with a harness arrangement, the harness being either fitted on the inside or outside of the coat. One such arrangement is sold by Eezee Sling Company, Inc., 27 Foundry Street, Central Falls, Rhode Island 02833, and is referred to as the SAV-TEE-HARNESS. This harness includes two straps, one which fits about the waist of the wearer and is joined together by a D-ring fastened to one side thereof and a snap joined to the other side. A second strap is likewise joined at one end to the D-ring and the other snap, and is designed to fit around the buttocks of the wearer, such that when the firemen is rapelling along the side of a building, the strap fitting underneath the buttocks serves as a seat support. This harness is also equipped with a ladder hook joined to the straps and extending outside of the coat, the coat including a snap for holding the ladder hook out of position when not in use. The upper strap is detachably fastened to the inside of the coat, so that the harness may be used apart from the coat itself.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,498,408, Foote discloses a harness arrangement which may also be employed with a fireman's turnout coat. Other harness and protective garment combinations are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,176,793 to Hlacia; and Hoagland et al, 2,979,153.
Although the turnout coat and harness combinations described above are suitable for some purposes, in many cases the harness slips along the waist and impedes the fireman during operations. It is therefore desirable to employ a groin strap or similar means which allows the harness to be firmly fastened about both the waist and legs. However, there are times when such a groin strap would be uncomfortable and undesirable.